The threat issued by the Lagos state government that it would sanction companies operating in the state that fail to adhere to its stipulated guidelines on workplace safety measures is not only timely and exemplary but would also serve as a deterrence to intending defaulters.
Announcing the planned sanction to journalists last week, the Director General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Fouad Oki, said the commission is set to commence a safety inspection exercise of companies across the state.
Oki said the exercise is in compliance with the directives of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode that a safety inspection team should immediately be constituted with the task of inspecting and ensuring that manufacturing companies and corporate organisations in the state strictly complied with all safety rules and regulations.
While noting that the government expects total compliance with safety measures by all companies in order to avoid cases of loss of lives and property, he stressed that the facility inspection would not be limited to companies but will also include hotels, public and private schools as well as tertiary institutions, among others.
“The inspection team would among other things verify allegation of breach of labour law in the companies and institutions visited, determine their safety and level of compliance to international standard, and also determine the state of equipment use and evaluate the threat level to lives and alleged enslavement of their workforce.
“The aim of the inspection is also intended to encourage companies and other organisations to comply with safety law. Where we find out that the state safety rules are being violated, we will order such companies to stop work until they correct their safety violation process”, he added. Oki explained further that the safety inspection will commence soon.
We commend Lagos state government for taking measures aimed at protecting employees by ensuring compliance with the various statutes and international conventions on workplace safety. As a matter of fact, there is a plethora of laws including the 1999 Constitution that govern the workplace safety as well as provide for social security/welfare scheme and a comprehensive compensation to employees who suffer from occupational diseases or sustain injuries arising from accidents at workplace or in the course of employment.
These laws include, among others, the common law duty of care, the Factories Act, 2010, the Employee’s Compensation Act, 2010 as well as conventions by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) such as Convention No. 55, Occupational Safety and Health, 1981, Convention No. 12, Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture) 1921, Convention No. 17, Workmen’s Compensation (Accident) 1925, Convention No. 18, Workmen’s Compensation (Occupational Diseases) 1925, Convention No. 19, Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) 1925, Convention No. 42, Workmen’s Compensation (Occupational Diseases)(Revised) 1934, Convention No. 121, Employment Injury Benefits, 1964; and ILO Recommendation No. 121, concerning Benefits in the case of Employment Injury.
In Nigeria, however, these statutes and conventions have been obeyed or honoured more in the breach than in their observance as many factories and other workplaces in the country fall far short of the basic legal requirements for workplace safety. Indeed, the state of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Nigeria is poor, especially in the construction industry. Compliance with OSH Regulations (OSHR) is one of the major factors for OSH improvement; regrettably, its level is low in Nigeria.
Although the Lagos state government’s action is inevitable in view of the fact that it is Nigeria’s commercial capital and home to over 70 per cent of the nation’s industries, we call on other state governments as well as the federal government to emulate Lagos by not only ensuring the total enforcement of the various statutes and conventions on workplace safety but also making the contractors’ OSH records a prerequisite for tender selection. Labour, under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), must be in the vanguard of not only ensuring compliance with the laws governing workplace safety but also ensuring the elimination of bottlenecks in the adherence to safety rules in workplaces like client’s influence, inadequate enforcement, lack of adequate regulations and unemployment.
.